About Time He Got What He Deserved
by Caffeinated Cat
Summary: Volume 4 AU. Instead of going to find Ruby, Yang decides to set out and extract her revenge from one Adam Taurus. Her revenge is for her school, herself, and most importantly, Blake. After all, it's time Adam gets what he deserves. Will probably be BumbleBY in later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

Yang Xiao Long had never felt so helpless in her life.

Any desperation she had ever felt was absolutely _nothing _compared to the soul-crushing anguish she felt as she fought through Grimm after Grimm, White Fang member after White Fang member. Her teammates were out there. Her _sister _was out there, for Dust's sake. Yet here she was, unable to find any of them while they could be dying alone-

"Blake," she wailed as a Faunus holding a sword approached her. She barely flinched as she rose to meet his blade with a punch and a bullet, which sent him flying back. "Where are you?" She looked around wildly.

But there was no one to be seen save for her enemies. There was a broken building to her left- would she have recognized it if it weren't for the chaos?

A pained cry rose above the rest, the voice one Yang knew well. "Huh?" She gasped, turning to look at the building.

Blake was lying on the ground by a pile of rubble with a tall man leaning over her. As Yang watched in horror, he removed his red sword from her body and turned, a small smirk appearing on his face.

Rage like she had never known welled up in her. She would not- could not- lose Blake. Quiet, kind Blake- with that edge of ferocity that Yang knew so well. She would not lose her teammate, would not lose her friend.

"Get away from her!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, preparing Ember Celica to attack. The man turned and sheathed his blade. Yang was only faintly aware of Blake gasping out a few heartbroken words.

With a cry, Yang erupted in fire. She blasted off with a shot from Ember Celica and barreled towards the man, one fist outstretched. Tears began to appear in her eyes as she shot toward him.

Her world erupted in icy pain. Everything was white-hot agony. Two shaking hands lifted her up from where she landed on the ground and began to carry her away. Yang felt numbly for her hand. Wasn't she also supposed to have two hands too?

Her fingers found the stump of her arm, sending more agony jolting up through her shoulder. Then Yang felt herself fall on the ground, and slipped away into the soothing dark.

_Everything was red and grey. Grimm shrieks echoed nearby, surely somewhere else in the school. Yang stumbled through the rubble, her entire body trembling as she looked back and forth, lavender eyes wide with horror._

_ And then she saw them. Blake, Weiss and Ruby darted and weaved around the same red-haired man earlier. His grin only grew as they tired. Crescent Rose came crashing down, missing his bull horns. _

_ Yang hurried for them, her eyes turning red. She drew back an arm to attack- only to find that there was nothing but a stump where her lower arm should have been. "No…"_

_ He grinned, and then turned back to her teammates. Before she could even scream, he glowed red and obliterated them with one slash of his blade._

_ Weiss collapsed first, scarlet staining her dress and coat. Myrtenaster clattered to the ground. Blake followed her, her beautiful yellow eyes filled with pain and regret and fear._

_ Finally, Ruby- her poor little sister- fell to the ground, still clutching Crescent Rose. Yang screamed, trying to reach out with a hand that wasn't there._

_ The man- Faunus- turned. He grinned. "It's your turn." She backed into a defensive position, quivering._

_ But where was Ember Celica? Where was her weapon? She had nothing, no one to save her, and she was going to die alone here, forgotten in a pile of rubble, eaten by Grimm or rotting away in solitude-_

Yang sat up. Her mouth was dry, and pain pounded through her head. Was that her room she was sitting in? It felt like a lifetime since she had been home.

She reached out a hand to push herself up, but felt only air and rough bandages. Her eyes widened, and she yanked her hand in front of her. At least, she tried to.

But there was nothing but empty air greeting her. She looked down at her arm and saw only half of what was supposed to be there. She blinked through hazy memories. She remembered a red blade and icy pain… loss and sadness rushed through her.

"Hey, kiddo."

Yang looked up to see her Uncle Qrow staring at her, a forced smile fixed on his tired face. Somehow, he looked more haggard than when she had last seen him at Beacon.

Beacon !

"What happened?" She demanded. "Is Ruby okay? Is Weiss? Is Blake?"

The smile disappeared in a flash. "Ruby's fine. I got her off Beacon Tower. Old Papa Schnee took Weiss to Atlas. Something about Vale not being safe anymore… which I gotta say, I agree with."

Yang waited, and when he didn't continue, she said, "And Blake?" She tried not to sound too desperate, but even to her ears, her voice sounded like a small child's.

"I don't know," Qrow responded honestly. "But you might want to check your Scroll. Your friends left you a bunch of messages. One of them might tell you where she went." He got up to leave. At the doorframe, he turned and looked back at Yang, his red eyes flicking to her arm's stump. Sighing, he said, "Look, kid. You're stronger than most of us. This is gonna be hard, but you can get through it. I know you can."

"What would you know about losing a part of you?" Yang challenged.

Qrow's features sharpened into grief and anger. "I lost half of my entire world around fifteen years ago."

Yang knew what he was talking about. Raven and Summer. Her anger cooled.

"How did you survive all that loss?"

"Life goes on. I lost them… and then you two arrived, and I could pretend everything was alright. It's not alright. But then again, I'm the weak one. And you have something to fill in the holes too." Qrow gestured to her nightstand, where her Scroll, Ember Celica and a long box were sitting. He lingered for a moment longer, and then disappeared into the hallway with a long sigh.

Were it not for the fact that Yang had no idea where Blake was, she would have laid down and possibly never gotten back up. But Blake was who-knew-where, and if there was one thing she wanted to know, it was where Blake had gone. She couldn't rest without knowing where Blake was.

Her left thumb clicked the first message on her Scroll.

"Yang? My father's bringing me back to Atlas. It'll be okay eventually, alright? You're the strongest out of all of us. Team RWBY needs you, Yang." Yang frowned and stopped Weiss's message. She didn't know how much loss was swarming her.

Next message.

"Hey, Yang. I hope you're feeling better. I saw Blake run off. I think I'm gonna follow her. Hang in there, okay?" Sun's message was short and punctuated by fast-moving footsteps. Yang was relieved that she had at least learned about where Blake had gone.

The next message was from Jaune. Yang clicked it without hesitation, and heard his empty voice describe what had happened in her absence. Yang could barely believe her ears.

Pyrrha was dead.

Out of all of them, Pyrrha had seemed like the one person who would never be harmed, even in the Fall of Beacon. And yet, here she was, listening to Jaune tell her about Pyrrha's sacrifice. She swallowed the lump in her throat. At this point, she couldn't feel worse.

How could this happen? How did Ozpin let this happen? None of them deserved this.

"I guess bad things just happen," Yang muttered to herself, feeling the truth of her words strike her in the gut. Then she continued on with the messages, ready to play the last one.

Her finger stilled, and she hesitated upon seeing the name glowing on her screen.

BLAKE BELLADONNA.

Yang's eyes focused on the picture next to Blake's name. There was no smile on Blake's face, yet her eyes gleamed with happiness. Her bow was on, of course, even though Yang would have preferred to see Blake's cat ears. She wondered if they were as soft as they looked.

Letting out a long breath, Yang pressed play.

Blake's voice came out of the Scroll, sounding weak and scared. "Yang, I… I'm so sorry! I hope you hate me. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…" The message ended with a sob from Blake.

"Blake…" Yang murmured. She felt sadness give way to rage, and she threw her Scroll down on her bedsheets. "You just _left? _What about Weiss, a-and Ruby, and me?" Her eyes grew wet.

Closing her eyes as tight as she could, Yang remembered Blake's face when the bull Faunus had looked at her. That was the face of a girl who was terrified and guilty and at this point, probably didn't know what to do with herself.

…Yang knew the feeling.


	2. Chapter 2

Finally, after a few more hours, Ruby awoke. Yang heard the voices and footsteps down the hall, but only briefly considered joining them.

Staring down at the stump of her arm, Yang listened to the sound of Ruby heading down the hallway. She sighed to herself. Whatever Ruby wanted, she hoped it wasn't to give Yang another motivational speech. Or a long, pitying look, which Taiyang had given her for around fifteen minutes as he sat there in silence. The only thing she would appreciate was more news about Blake, which Sun had gladly given once Yang called him.

The door creaked open. "Yang?" A high-pitched voice asked hopefully.

Slowly, Yang slid her eyes to look at Ruby, who stood by the door with a small frown on her face. Ruby turned and began to walk away.

Yang didn't want to bear the silence again, so she said in a flat voice, "Ruby?" Her sister turned, looking surprised. Even though she fought it, Yang couldn't fight the tears welling in her eyes as she looked at her sister.

Ruby's expression turned to concern, and she rushed forward to hug Yang. Yang shut her eyes and let the tears fall.

"I'm so glad you're okay," Ruby said, her usually cheery voice swamped with emotion.

Yang wanted to smile, hug her sister, and return the sentiment, but that would be a lie. How could she even hug her sister with one arm? She opened her eyes, "But I'm not."

Her sister frowned and stopped hugging her. She paused, waiting for an explanation.

Struggling with the words, Yang managed to choke out, "It's all gone- the school, Penny, Pyrrha, and…" She trailed off, looking at her missing arm.

"Yang, where are Weiss and Blake?" Ruby asked. Yang almost laughed. Even now, she thought that their friends wouldn't leave them no matter the circumstances. Especially Blake, who had been loyal to things and people she believed in.

"Weiss's father… came for her," Yang replied, remembering the glimpse of the stern-faced man she had caught through the agony. She should at least make sure Ruby knew that in Weiss's case, abandoning them wasn't her fault.

"What? What do you mean?"

"No one outside of Vale knows what happened here," Yang began, repeating Taiyang's words from his earlier visit. "Before the tower fell, the last thing people saw was Atlas attacking innocent people and Grimm destroying the city. Everyone's scared. No one knows who to trust. So, Weiss's father came to take her back to Atlas, where he thinks it's safe. She's gone." She finished her explanation with a bitter taste in the back of her throat.

"Well, what about-"

_No, don't say it, _Yang thought. She didn't want to think about how Blake had left her, how she had just _run away _like some kind of coward, like she always said she did- "And Blake _ran! _Sun saw her go. After we got to the city, she just _ran!_"

"But… why?"

"I don't know, and I don't care," Yang told her sister, hoping the lie was convincing. There was nothing more important than her friends and family. And especially Blake…

Ruby glanced around the room, and Yang could see the gears in her head turning. "There has to be a reason she-"

Yang interrupted her as her anger flared. "No there _doesn't! _Sometimes bad things just _happen, _Ruby!" _Like my arm, and Weiss, and _Blake_…_

"So, what do we do now?"

_Ever the hero, _Yang thought to herself, keeping cruel laugh at bay. Ruby didn't know when to give up. "You can do whatever you want. I'm gonna lie here."

There it was. The pity that Yang hated so much. "Yang…"

"Just leave me alone."

Ruby left, pausing in the doorway and looking over her shoulder. "I love you."

(Yang would have said that to Blake before, if she'd had the courage. Now, she wasn't so sure.)

The only thing she had left was her father.

After Ruby had left to go on a hopeless quest to save Haven, Yang hadn't felt quite the same. She still was reeling from the loss and pain and anger, but now she felt something new. Shame. She was a _Huntress, _for Dust's sake. She had vowed to protect the world, and here she was, sitting on her couch, doing nothing to help.

She clicked through the channels, not caring about the news about Beacon. The school had fallen, and that was that. No one-

"Multiple rumors continue to circulate as to who was behind the attacks at the Vytal Tournament," reported Lisa Lavender. Yang followed the caption under her: WHITE FANG MEMBER, ADAM TAURUS, PRESENT DURING BEACON GRIMM ATTACK. "While no one knows for sure, officials have confirmed that high-ranking White Fang member, Adam Taurus…"

Adam Taurus's face appeared onscreen, and Yang froze. She stopped hearing and thinking. All she could do was shut the TV off as Lisa continued her report. Yang barely even heard her father coming in, but he wisely left her alone.

So she now had a name for the Faunus that had taken away her arm. Yang bared her teeth, knowing that her eyes were bright red. She took a deep breath, blinked, and began to walk upstairs to her room. The minute she reached her nightstand, she steeled herself and slipped on Ember Celica.

It felt so wrong that she almost sobbed as she hastily shoved it off her left arm. The yellow weapon clattered to the floor.

Suddenly, Yang was standing in that ruined building, seeing the corpses of her friends again. Adam's face appeared in her vision for a brief moment, and then she was back in her room. Panting heavily, Yang gripped the nightstand for support, careful not to knock over the sunflowers that Taiyang had brought her. She collapsed on the bed, pounding her fist into the pillow.

"I'm useless like this," she muttered to herself. But Ember Celica felt strange and foreign without her right arm.

_I could have a right arm, _Yang realized. She reached for the box.

She remembered her father's hopeful smile and let it fuel her trembling hands as she lifted the lid on the metal arm. "Huh."

Yang gingerly lifted it out and gazed at it, taking in every piece of metal.

"Now, how the hell am I supposed to get this on?"

After ten minutes of swearing, whacking, and shaking the arm, Yang finally managed to get it to attach properly. She was amazed at how much better she felt the moment she put it on.

Yang had expected it to feel as horrible as Ember Celica had when she put it on, but the arm just felt natural. She grinned a little and admired the arm as she rotated her wrist and flexed her fingers.

She knew she had missed her arm, but it seemed like only a distant memory. Yang made the motion of readying Ember Celica, and she heard a little click on her arm. Not wanting to figure out what kind of weapon this arm could be just yet, she made a gesture as if to sheath her weapon.

"This will work fine," she promised herself, feeling her smile grow.

Practically bounding down the stairs, she ran into her father, who was heading outside again. He took in everything- her happier expression, her stance, and the Atlesian contraption on her arm. "Alright. Let's get started."

As it turned out, her father's way of getting started was sparring over and over again until Yang's aura wore thin, and then continuing after a quick break. So far, he'd lectured her about balancing her Semblance and being predictable. As a matter of fact, he was still lecturing her.

"… You've always been one to burn brighter than everyone else, whether it was your smile, or, well, I remember your first haircut." They both smiled.

Yang remembered that day well. She was pretty sure parts of the house still had the scorch marks on them.

"But you gotta keep your emotions in check. Keep a level head, and think before you act. Your Semblance is a great fallback, but you can't let yourself rely on it. It won't always save you." Sadness crept into his tone. "Obviously. You have your mom's stubbornness." He refused to look at Yang, and instead stared resolutely into the trees.

"Oh, so now we can talk about her?" Yang asked, trying to keep the anger in check. _After all these years?_

"I think you can handle it after all you've been through," Taiyang replied, grinning.

Yang grumbled a little. "Well, _sorry _I remind you of her."

"Don't be. Raven was great in so many ways- her strength, her ambition, her dedication to whatever cause she thought was worth fighting for." He turned away again. "I'm proud of how much of her I see in you. But I'm glad I don't see all of her in you."

"Why?"

"Your mother was… a complicated woman. Like everybody, she had her faults, but those faults are what tore out team apart. And it did a real number on our family. You both act like the easiest way to tackle an obstacle is through it. That strength is all that matters in a fight. But if you just take a second look, then maybe you see there's a way around as well." With that, he began to walk inside, but stopped. "Let's do one more round before dinner."

They began to circle each other, ready to fight. Taiyang struck first, but Yang quickly avoided the attacks and cartwheeled away from him. She avoided more strikes, and then rushed for her father, catching his elbow.

"Heh. See? Alright! Now you're using your head instead of your-"

Yang kicked his legs out from under him, but held his arm so he wouldn't fall. They smiled. Taiyang pulled himself up and, with a quick congratulation, he walked back inside. Yang stood outside alone for a minute, pondering his words.

_If even Dad thinks Raven was really strong, maybe she could help me. So next time I face Adam, I won't be so unprepared. _Wait. She wasn't planning on seeing Adam ever again, not if she could help it.

"I bet Raven would have taken revenge on him," Yang muttered to herself. "But I'm not Raven. Besides, Cinder and her team actually _killed _two of our friends. My arm is nothing compared to that."

_And Blake is nothing? _Asked the little voice in her head.

"Shut up." Blake had left her alone, like Ruby. She wanted to be nothing, didn't she? Even the thought made Yang feel slimy. Blake would _never _be nothing to her, no matter how hard she tried to forget how her teammate had disappeared. If there was anything worth fighting for, it was Blake.

_Then fight for her._

"By doing what?" She scoffed. "Running off on a wild goose chase to take revenge on Adam?"

_It wouldn't be such a wild goose chase if you got Raven involved._

"That's the stupidest thing I've heard today. I really need to stop thinking until I get a nap."

She got her nap eventually, but the thought didn't leave her head.


	3. Chapter 3

It was a beautiful day. Birds were singing, flowers were blooming, and Adam was about to be burning in hell. Yang smiled to herself and stood up from her work- a fresh coat of spray paint on Ember Celica and her new arm. She leaned the board they were sitting on back up by the shed where she had found it and attached her arm.

Yang opened the door of the shed, gazing across the small building to see the dusty, cloth-covered lump near the far wall. She walked up to it, taking in what she was about to do.

She was about to leave Patch to find Raven.

Steeling herself, Yang reached down and pulled the cloth away to reveal Bumblebee. She studied it for a second.

"I don't remember saying you were ready."

Yang didn't even turn around. She knew her father's voice. A mischievous grin- one that had been missing from her face for a long time- appeared. "Oh yeah? You're gonna try and stop me?"

Her father laughed. "No. I think I'm still too sore after our last fight." His voice became tinged with sadness. "I just want a better goodbye than a letter." Yang remembered how he had run around the house, looking for Qrow. Then he'd found the letter- in Qrow's hands, right before her uncle told him that he was going too. "And I also have a question for you. Where are you going?"

She had turned to look at him sometime while he was talking. "What do you mean?"

Taiyang pushed away from the wall he had just been leaning against. "Well, despite asking him numerous times not to, I know that Qrow told you where your mother's been at these days." And it was a good thing he had, even if Yang hadn't known it at the time. "I know how much you wanna see her. I've stopped you in the past, but I won't anymore. And we both read the note. We know your sister's heading to Mistral. So, where are you going?"

Yang frowned. "I guess we'll both see. I'm going to Raven first, but who knows? I might meet up with Ruby again." Her father nodded slowly and began to walk out of the shed, clutching his sore shoulder.

So, Yang got on Bumblebee and drove off in search of her mother.

That idiot directing her really thought that she didn't know that he was trying to lead her directly into a trap. Maybe the punch to his head had addled his senses. Yang wasn't sure, but she was sure of one thing. After traveling by motorcycle and boat and more motorcycle, she was finally about to find her mother.

"How much further, pal?" Yang asked, keeping her voice as hostile as she could without revealing that she knew he was trying to trick her.

The bandit grinned. "This should just about do it."

She noticed his evil smirk as she turned her attention back to the dusty road. In a few more seconds, she stopped at the clearing he had described before.

"You wait here. I'll go up ahead and make sure the coast is clear." He dismounted and sauntered off into the bushes.

Yang shook her head and pulled off her sunglasses. His acting was _awful._ She pulled off the extra pieces of her outfit. They wouldn't really help in her fight.

There was a bang, and Yang moved her arm to block the shot. She felt the metal arm shift strangely and bit back a cry. Her actual hand grasped the metal one. She didn't even feel the pressure on it. At first glance, the arm had looked easy enough to work with. Now, Yang was pretty sure that if she held something fragile in her metal arm, she would break it just by wrapping her fingers around it.

The shady man's voice brought her back to the present. "I can't believe you were dumb enough to let me lead you here." He emerged from the greenery with a group of bandits that surrounded Yang.

She shivered. It was so eerily like that one part of her fight when the White Fang had surrounded her. Except that time, she had both arms. A phantom pain passed through her arm's stump. Taking a deep breath, she mustered her bravado and asked, "Is this everyone?"

He chuckled (ugh, she hated his chuckle more than his normal voice) and said, "Yes, little lady. This is it. Well, unless you count the whole rest of the camp back that way." He jerked his thumb over his shoulder.

Yang pointed the same way. "That way?"

He seemed caught off guard and confused. The man glanced at his tribemates, and then stared her down. "Yes. That way."

"Good to know. Thanks."

"Now to pay me back for this tooth, we're going to take your bike. And you're going to take your lumps."

_You've got that last one mixed up, _Yang thought. She jerked her arm, and Ember Celica shifted into its active position. The bandits tensed and aimed their weapons.

"You got the jump on me last time, sweetheart," the shady man said, raising his gun. But you really ought to think twice about fighting all-"

Yang moved her robotic arm. The gun built into it popped out.

Looking more cautious, the man commanded, "Alright… get her!"

She barely paid attention to the fight, her father's words ringing in her ears. Yang was rather proud of her final move in taking down the bandit that had led her there. She shook her head at the groaning bandits before climbing onto Bumblebee and driving off to the camp.

Yang sighed when she saw the bandits guarding the front gate. Why would Raven choose such utterly useless fighters to protect her tribe? "Let me in," she told them, crossing her arms.

The guards glanced at each other as if they were wondering who the girl standing in front of them was. They raised their weapons and pointed them at Yang, glaring at her from behind the barrels of their guns.

"I said, let me in!" Yang repeated, her hands curling into fists. Her metal arm's gun clicked out not-so subtly, but Ember Celica remained inactive. For the time being.

The guard on the left spoke first. "Who the hell are you?" He demanded, his grip tightening on his gun.

"Someone who's about to kick your ass if you don't let me in right now," Yang glowered back, Ember Celica snapping to life. "I'm not sure if you noticed, but most of your buddies are back there with a bunch of nasty bruises." She gestured to the forest behind her.

Their eyes moved toward the trees and then back to Yang, who was already moving forward. The female guard fired, and Yang easily blocked it with her metal arm. A second later, her fist was connecting with the woman's face while the other guard attempted to shoot her.

Yang turned and punched him too. He fell to the ground, groaning, and she took the opportunity to push open the gates.

Shouts of alarm came from the camp as surprised bandits came to the scene. She made no move to attack them, so they hung back, their weapons out.

"What's going on out there?" A voice rang from the large tent in the center of the camp. The cloth rustled, and out stepped a masked woman, who Yang recognized instantly.

Her mother.


End file.
